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Thu, 22 Jun 2006 14:55:57 -0400 |
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Hi,
We have a house that was bequeathed to us in a will, complete with the
house contents. The house came with an endowment for the upkeep - never
as large as we'd like, but does generate interest. The will states that
we can sell the property if it is no longer feasible for us to maintain
it but we have to keep a specified collection of early American
decorative arts that the owner had collected. (Those artifacts would be
moved to another of our buildings.) We have a contigent on the board
that wants to sell the house now...I'll spare the arguments and
reasoning behind that.
I'm assuming that a house is like any other artifact - regardless of
whether or not it's been formally accessioned, it's a gift that's part
of our collection. The owner intended us to have it open for visitors X
days per year, etc. So in addition to proving legality (we can no
longer feasibly maintain the property, which I don't agree with), I
think we need to prove deaccessioning criteria = this house isn't
relevant to our mission, etc. in order to follow our policy.
Has anyone else gone through this, or know of an institution to
contact? Has SPNEA/ Historic New England or Williamsburg ever
deaccessioned properties? Do institutions treat the building as a
straight sale or treat it as deaccessioning an artifact?
Thanks,
John Marks
Curator
Geneva (NY) Historical Society
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